Matters of the Heart
by Calie1
Summary: Oliver wants it all, if only Chloe could give it to him. One Shot


Chloe yawned and stretched, arching her back so that her backside tipped slightly in the air and the blankets slid down her back. Bleary eyed she reached for the bedside table and grasped for her phone blindly. Squinting at the LED screen, she frowned.

"What are you doing?"

"Waking up." Chloe reasoned and scrolled through her e-mails.

"Turn that damn thing off."

"It's Monday Oliver," was her response, as if it made the most perfect sense. "I probably need to get home." But his hand was warm on her back and she could feel the heat from his body at her side. Those kind of sensations made it impossible to move. She blew off the whole weekend with him, at least half of it. He'd persuaded her to come over Saturday night and she had stayed all through Sunday, holing up in his apartment with only take out, movies, wine, and sex to sustain them. It had been enough at the time, but breaks always came to an end and real life returned. She felt his chest against her back and then saw his hand grasp her phone before he yanked it from her hand and tossed it across the room. She watched it bounce and land on the carpet before she rolled over, mouth slightly gaping open. "What the hell?"

"Go back to sleep," he mumbled and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her against his chest.

"And it's almost eleven. I slept strait through breakfast. I never sleep late." He snorted softly and she narrowed her eyes. "What?"

"You make it sound like it's a sin, sleeping late."

"It is; I'm sure you have things to do. People to fire, corporations to ruin." She'd hoped for slightly offending him, but he only smirked, his eyes remaining closed as she peered up into his face.

"Which is all in a days work and there are four more days left of this week which I can ruin lives on. Think of it this way, you're job security for thousands of unknowing souls. If I don't get to work, no one gets fired." She huffed softly and he didn't even bother resisting a grin.

"So I'm supposed to satisfy your physical needs to help thousands of people keep their jobs?" His eyes opened with unrestrained amusement.

"Aren't you always trying to save the world?" He asked, cocking his eyebrow slightly.

"That's different..."

"How?"

"Because bringing down aliens, corrupted government agencies, and meteor freaks is a bit different than having sex with you so that joe blow doesn't get his pink slip." By the way the corner of his mouth rose slightly she knew that his interest on the subject hadn't waned, despite her irritation on the subject.

"Maybe..." Oliver grasped a hip and rolled her onto her back, covering her body with his own. As he settled between her legs, his slowly hardening erection pressing against her, he continued. "But it is kind of kinky...you giving yourself to me every day just to save thousands of poor defenseless middle class workers."

Regardless of the fact that her body was responding to his erection she rolled her eyes. "You make it sound so dirty. Like I'm sacrificing myself to the devil." It was possible that she was, because being with him was sinful. He made her forget things, forget work, forget obligations, forget her past. With Oliver it was all about pleasure and fun.

"So," Oliver began as he dropped his head and pressed a kiss to her neck, "does that mean you're selling me your soul for a price?"

"Not for sale, especially to the upper class, CEO, billionaire, bachelor types." He laughed against her shoulder, warm breath caressing her bare skin.

Stopping and looking up at her his eyes narrowed slightly. "You'd sell it for a price though wouldn't you? If the ends justified the means?"

In just seconds the tone of their conversation had shifted, and she hadn't even been aware of it. They'd gone from playful, suggestive, and flirtatious, to sacrificing your life for the greater good, and by the hardened look on his face she knew he wasn't joking. "Wouldn't you?" Chloe countered.

"Touché."

She reached her hand up and gently brushed her fingertips over his cheek, recognizing, as she always did, when something was troubling him. His beard was rough against her fingers, a result of his face having been unshaven since Friday. Although she preferred him clean-shaven, she had to admit, there was something different and decidedly attractive about the rough exterior, especially put together with his mussed hair. His head lowered, leaving her hand, so that he was pressing his lips against her collarbone. His lips continued to travel lower.

"And your heart?" He whispered against her chest, feeling the beat of it against his lips. "Is that for sale or is it freely given?"

If he hadn't been so close as to see her reaction she would have gasped, shuddered even, but she withheld any tell tale signs of fear. "Is anyone's heart ever for sale?" She asked, trying to put off the answer.

"Sometimes," he said softly, pressing a kiss above her heart.

"Who would want to buy someone's heart? Wouldn't they want it freely given?" This time it was curiosity that got the best of her, because the last thing she expected was to see Oliver Queen attempt to buy someone's heart. If someone's heart was for sale and if it was within anyone's ability to buy it, he could. But he didn't seem like the kind of man that would need to do so.

Oliver swallowed and looked up into her eyes. "Someone who wants it and doesn't think it would be given otherwise."

The conversation, for a time, appeared to be hypothetical, but the pained look in his eyes refused to be ignored, and even though she wanted to run from the searching look on his face she still reached and cradled his cheek, wanting to offer him some comfort even if she didn't want to give him what she thought he was asking for. He turned into her hand, pressing a kiss against her palm, his eyes never breaking from hers. "Oliver, I don't understand." At least not all of it.

"Last week," he began slowly, recalling what had sent him running, "I went to Star City, but not for business."

She swallowed nervously at the tone of this voice. He spoke slowly and almost seemed to be unsure and her mind ran away with a variety of scenarios that would have led him to leave for a week and keep the reason from her. She'd made her self start to trust him and the thought that he had lied, kept something from her stung. "Why?" She whispered so softly she was unsure if he even heard her.

"I needed to get away." Her eyes narrowed. "I just needed to think some things over, on my own." Slowly, her hand fell from his cheek. Moving back up her body he pressed his elbows into the mattress, sufficiently trapping her between the wall of his arms and beneath his body. "We need to talk." At the panicked look on her face he knew trapping her had been the best decision.

"You know I don't like talks." Because if there was a need to talk it was because things weren't simple anymore, and they were simple, that was the best thing for both of them. If things got complicated then things got difficult.

"I know that. And I try to respect that, but this isn't just about you Chloe," he sighed and shifted one arm closer to her so that he could brush his thumb over her cheek, "it's about me too. And if you want to remain ignorant to what is going on that's fine, but I can't."

"I still don't understand." Except she did, at least somewhat. They'd being seeing each other, or in a sense seeing each other, for months now. Their lives, so busy with the normal day to day things and the not normal day to day things, left little free time, and that free time was usually spent with one another. It was easy that way, they enjoyed each other's company, they didn't have to worry about meeting new people, keeping their secrets. The problem was that they were still comfortable with the situation. Taking weekend trips, cooking dinner together, staying the night...if you went by the definition, they were dating, in a relationship, yet in her mind they weren't, and she was starting to wonder if she had been a little slow on the uptake. "You said you were fine with the way things have been."

"I'm happy with you," he said plainly, "but you refuse to talk about what is going on here."

"It's just us, Oliver, enjoying each other company. We have fun together—."

"Chloe," he sighed and dropped his forehead against her shoulder. "We aren't just enjoying each others company; this is a relationship, whether you want to ignore it or not. This has been an exclusive relationship for some time." Raising his head he looked pointedly into her green eyes. "I haven't been seeing anyone else, talking to anyone else, or even looking since we started this."

"I'm sure the lack of time makes that difficult." Yet, if he had been, it would have broken her heart, even that she couldn't have ignored. Chloe was happy with him, she had no urge to look elsewhere, but he could have easily considered it just sex, and went on a date with a woman without him breaking any rules.

"Don't do that. Don't make this about something else. It has nothing to do with the lack of time." He said harshly, slightly annoyed that she still refused to see what was right in front of her. "I needed to think, because I can't keep going on like this, with you so oblivious, intent on making this less then it really is."

"You left for a week, just to think?" Chloe asked, slightly disbelieving.

"I needed to make a decision." Oliver paused, digging deeper within himself to lay it all out on the line. Within minutes she could be gone, never grace him with her smile, her lips, her caring green eyes, or her body again. "I know what you said you wanted, and for a minute I considered just walking away, because I broke the rules. I let you think it was just fun and games for the past few months when it wasn't for me, when I had no intention of letting it be so." She opened her mouth to speak but he covered her parted lips with one finger. "But I can't just walk away, I have to at least try." Her lips were still against his finger, her eyes so wide he would swear she was scared of what he was going to say. If only she knew he was just as scared. Brushing his thumb over her lips he slid his hand to her cheek and cradled it gently. "Chloe, I...I can't keep doing it like this anymore though. I know what it is you want, and right now I'm happy with that, but eventually it won't be enough."

"What do you mean?" She gave him as much of herself that she could, in fact she didn't mind spending her spare time with him. "What more do you want?"

"I want the strings." She seemed slightly taken aback by his statement but he continued. "I want the normal things that you have in a relationship. Boyfriend/girlfriend, dates in public, gifts, holidays together, a commitment, less excuses about it being fun, and more because it's too important to let go." He paused for a moment as he put the final nail in the coffin. "And I really want you to want the same thing, but if you don't, I'm not sure I can do this anymore Chloe."

Her heart pounded in her chest at his words, skipping over the fact that he wanted more from her and strait to him leaving her. "You'd walk away? Why?"

"Would you?" He countered. "Just because you're scared of a commitment, of getting hurt?"

"I'm no good at relationships Oliver." She shook her head, refusing to believe where this was going. She had been so confident that he was with her, understood where she was coming from. He was the last person that she expected to fall into that trap.

"And neither am I." He brought a hand to her face and brushed his thumb over her cheek. "But I'm pretty confident that you feel some of what I do, even if you don't want to admit it. Are you willing to be alone, to not even try?"

Alone. The thought scared her. She didn't want to be alone again. Chloe had gotten so used to his company that the thought of him being gone chilled her to the bone, made her heart drop, her breath catch. He asked her if she'd be willing to be alone, meaning he would leave her, if she didn't agree, he'd leave her. "You'd leave me? Leave me alone?"

The hurt look on her face tore into his heart, making him hate himself for causing her distress, and even more so as he saw the tears on her eyes. "I can't do it to myself again Chloe. I can't care about someone who doesn't really want me."

But she did want him, that wasn't the problem. She just didn't want to commit, and it had nothing to do with other people, or wanting to keep her possibilities open. But labels, dates, strings, gifts, would all have the possibility of leading to something much, much more, something much more dangers. Thoughts of love flittered into her mind, but she quickly pushed them out. Because the thought of loving someone again, only to lose them, was worse than the thought of death.

"Don't do this just because you're scared." He whispered and lowered his head, pressing his forehead against her own, his nose brushing hers. She blinked and he could see tears escape the corner of her eyes. Sliding his other arm up he brought both hands to the side of her face and brushed the tears away with his thumbs. "I can't promise it will all be okay, but I can promise you I'm in this with you all the way. I won't walk away. Chloe, I care about you so much more then anyone else."

Promises of everlasting happiness were foolish, and promises that he would always be there were just as ridiculous. But he cared about her, admitting that, admitting that he cared about her above anyone else, drew her even closer to him, making her attachment to him even stronger. Not only did he care about her, but he was there, willing to admit it. "I don't want to lose you," she forced herself to admit.

Oliver frowned and then clicked his tongue softly. "You don't have to."

There was a slight feeling of being backed into a corner, because even if he didn't understand, she cared about him, much more then she should have, and the fear of losing him would make her go above and beyond, even do something that she swore she would never do again. "And I'm scared," she forced herself to admit, and hating herself for the weakness that she felt, "of what you want."

Oliver wasn't fool enough not to realize what it had taken her to admit what she had. For Chloe, admitting to being scared, was admitting to being weak, and she didn't like either. For so long she had put on a show of strength, even when he knew there were things she feared, and he hated to prey on that, but he had to make her realize being alone wasn't the answer. "Chloe, we're already mostly there. All we're doing is committing to it."

"Okay." She nodded with pursed lips, swallowing passed the lump in her throat and blinking tears away.

"You sure?" He asked and tightened his hold on her face. She nodded again.

"Yea."

"I don't want to force you into what you don't want Chloe. I need to make sure you're in this all the way. That you'll be okay with the labels, a public relationship, all the stuff that you didn't want months ago."

It all seemed so minimal compared to the thought of losing him. She nodded again; wishing her eyes would stop watering. "Yea, I'm okay with it."

He frowned, and stared down at her in concern. "Then why does it look like you're upset?" She closed her eyes and shook her head; obviously trying to regain control again, push whatever it was that was bothering her away. "Hey, look at me." When she didn't he tried again. "Look at me Chloe," he said more forcefully. When she did he lowered his voice again. "Part of this means admitting how you feel, you don't have to hide it. Don't forget, I'm the one who just admitted they were too emotionally attached for just sex, this coming from a 29 year old man." She snorted softly and wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. "What is it?"

"Just scared, and I guess it's a little overwhelming," she admitted. "I mean not in a bad way, I just didn't expect you to feel that way about me."

He drew his brow together in concern and lowered his head so that he was brushing a chaste kiss over her lips. "Why wouldn't I feel that way about you? I think about you, all the time. Right now, the only thing I want is you, to be with you, to know that you're in this with me, all the way, that there is no one else for you."

"There isn't," Chloe whispered against his lips, staring up into his brown eyes.

"So stay the day," he whispered and pressed a kiss against the corner of her mouth, "and then let me take you on our first date, in the six months we've been together." He pressed another against her neck and slid lower down her body. "And then whenever everyone gets all excited over Oliver Queen's new girlfriend you can reconsider if this was the worst idea you ever made."

She watched him press another kiss over her heart and couldn't help but smile. "I don't think the paparazzi can compare to the other end of the world situations I've faced."

"I'll remind you of that later," he mumbled against her chest, feeling her heart beat against his lips.

"Girlfriend?" Chloe asked with a teary smile, as what he said before suddenly sunk in.

"I told you," he whispered and lowered a hand down her body, curling it under one thigh so that he could part her legs more, "labels and everything."

She watched him move lower, his tongue caressing her breasts and nipples, leaving a wet trail down her abdomen. As it tickled the skin below her navel her breath hitched with anticipation. Then she felt him, licking along her slit, the tip of his tongue brushing against her clit.

"Don't you agree?" He asked finally, a smiling gracing his lips as her hips jerked and she dropped her head back with a gasp.

"Yes." She shuddered. His tongue dipped inside of her and then his lips wrapped around her clit, sucking intently. She would have agreed to anything at that moment, and she suspected he was more then well aware of that.


End file.
